When You Follow a Stranger Home
by My Final Death
Summary: Nadiya, a simple young mithran is saved by a mysterious yet kind hume while hunting on Qufim Island. However, true to her profession she steals his wallet as well as his identifications and licences.


Note: This is loosely based off of events that happened to myself while on the Gilgamesh server. Very quickly written. May or may not come back to it, I think it stand good as a one shot.

Nadiya crouched down to a sitting position and wiggled her toes in anticipation against the snow covered surface of the Qufim Island. Although the snow had already started to melt underneath the warmth of her bare feet she felt absolutely nothing, not even the slightest tingle of numbness. She wouldn't have noticed it anyways - her pacific blue eyes along with the entire focus of her concentration were locked on to what would be her meal of the day: a succulent looking land crab that scuttled above the surface of a lake that had been frozen over. Two dark colored ears pricked erect underneath the hood of her dark grey cloak which caused it push backwards and reveal a white-haired youthful face of the Mithran race. Her feline tail flicked side to side each time the crab moved, tossing up a small amount of snow with each movement.

She placed her front hands (or rather paws?) into the snow and leaned her weight into them. Her tail straightened out and quivered in anticipation as she dug her claws into the ice for a better grip. With a mental count down, she lurched off with the speed of a cheetah and pounced at the crab, teeth and claws bared. As soon as she made contact with her prey, she quickly grabbed both claw legs and ripped them upwards with surprising strength. A large crack and pop was heard as both arms were ripped from the crab's body and light pink liquid stained the surface of the lake. "Ha!" She stated, triumphantly and let out a giggle of glee. She handled the rest of the legs on the crab the exact same way and left it sitting on the surface of the ice, belly-side up. She comfortably sat down with her legs crossed and then proceeded to break each leg in half to suck the tender meat out of them.

"Ahhh..." she sighed, as she finished withe the last leg. She swung at the remaining crab shell with a playful swipe and sent in spining on its back towards the opposite end of the lake and laid backwards herself. She rubbed one hand against her stomach while the other the cradle her head against the cold ice. "It's so much nicer out here..." she softly said aloud to the wind itself. Her eyes drifted off the side, eying a tree that had fallen over long ago yet was preserved well from the process of decomposing because of the frigid climate. "I hate crowds," she murmurred before closing her eyes.

It was within those moments of peace that another creature approached from underneath the surface lake. Attracted by sounds of scraping against the surface of the ice, it had come over to investigate with territorial interests. However, completely oblivious to the oncomer, Nadiya flopped the hand that had been on her stomach onto the ice with a thud. The fish like creature known as a pugil winced with the vibrations it sent into the water, and snarled with a vicious sound in its throat. Naturally aggressive, it quickly enraged and charged at the surface with its full force. Because its snout was so slender, it had no problem breaking through the surface and using its powerful jaws to crush the ice around it. The young mithra was completely taken off guard and reacted only a fraction too late. Within a half of a second her whole entire forearm was caught between the iron jaw grip the pugil had on her flesh. She screamed aloud in pain, which only caused the pugil to become further enrage. With one strong tug, it withdrew back into the icey waters and dragged the mithra down with it as well.

Frantically Nadiya trashed and clawed at whatever monstronsity had a hold of her, but it was no good. The pugil's scales were simply much too strong for her pristine claws. In fact, all the good it seemed to do was make the fish creature grip with renewed vigor which sent shockwaves of pain through our her whole body. She shrieked in pain once again and tried to cling to any surface of the icehole she could dig her claws into. However, under the conditions, it seemed to be of no use and the young mithra was no champion at holding her breath. She was beginning to feel more dizzy and naseauted than anything else and seemed to be sinking into this black hole of unconsciousness.

In the midst of her haze, she felt a strong grip around her other arm. She opened her eyes for just a fraction of a second and in the midst of the blood stained water she saw a brilliant beam of light slice through the pugil. As if a miracle had played a hand in her rescue, the pugil immediately relented its hold on her seriously maimed arm and fled with its own injuries.

---

Nadiya first realized when she was conscious again when she felt a soft feather-like tickle against the bridge of her nose. Her eyes slowly opened, and although they granted only a blurry mesh of objects, she felt a swell of relief come over her body that she was above the lake's surface. Her second realization brought her more sharply back to reality when she realized the blurry meshed object just inches away from her own face were in fact the feature's of another person's face. "No!" She cried and immediately struggled to sit up, wrecklessly grabbing at anything. The only thing she managed to accomplish by this act was grabbing whoever the person was square by the shoulders, and pulling their frame tightly down against their body.

"Ahh-Whaa---Mmf!" The body slumped forwards and down against hers, and whatever consoling or comforting words the person might have had to say were quickly muffled their lips pressed down forcively against hers.

The young mithra gave the person a bewildred look. As she came more to, she could clearly tell it was a man. A hume, to be exact. She wasn't surprised, the neighboring city of Qufim Island was crawling with them. Perhaps taking note of the look the yougn mithra was giving him, he immediately backed off of her. "Sorry," he mumbled, although he didn't look very apologetic in her opinion. In fact, he looked more amused than anything. She felt warmth rush up into her cheeks and she quickly looked away from encouraged by the fact that the accidentally stolen kiss seemed to have calmed her down, granted more from shock than anything, he gave her a warm smile. Although her face was beautifully flushed, she did not return the smile. At least not with the same warmth. She rocked herself upwards and with her legs tucked firmly underneath her. She leaned forwards and gave him a scruntinizing look, and then to the man's obvious surprise, touched the tip of her nose lightly against his before sniffing him out. Finally, after she was satisfied, she leaned backwards.

"Erm," He started, "I tried to bandage your arm..." he trailed off dully, not quite sure what to make of the situation. She tilted her head to the side for a moment as if she didn't quite understand him. "You understand me, don't you? Your arm." He pointed at the mess of a job he had done while attempting what would be called poor 'first aid' skills. He had made use of her dark grey cloak and had ripped it to shreds in order to make her a bandage. The blood was already beginning to seep through.

Following the direction of his finger to her arm, she looked down and an obvious expression of shock came over her face. "Oh my!" She exclaimed in an embarassed sort of voice, and hunched forward to cover herself. Although it was hardly anything to be ashamed of, she was accutely aware that her tank top and her green summer shorts did not cover her mid section or legs at all. She crossed her arms over her body in a defensive position. "There are words," Purred the words from her throat, "to describe the immense gratitude I must feel towards you, but none come to mind at the present moment."

"Yeah? You sure you going to be ok?" He stood up and casually began the dust the snow off of his dark purple gi suit.

"You musn't worry about me..." She stated quietly in a sheepish voice as she brought herself to stand up as well. Or at least attempted to. Her legs weren't quite as strong as they should have been after the ordeal she had been in, and she immediately stumbled forward and into the stranger once more. "Um!" She said softly, against his shirt, putting her hands against his chest to balance herself. "Sorry, I'm not so good with water," She finished in a lame apology. But in truth it wasn't just her legs, she simply felt off balance in general.

"Hey, you sure you're going to be ok?" He placed both hands on her shoulders and held her out form him so she could stabilize herself.

"Ahh... yes," She said in sort of a sigh as she looked up into her rescuer's face. Suddenly she felt her cheeks flush again under the intensity of his gaze. Who in the hell was this? The thought that his lips had been previously touching her own was not such an unpleasant thought... for the first time, she gave him a genuinely warm smile back. "I'm made of stronger stuff, yeh know?" She added an enthusiastic mewl to go along with her claim. "And... I need..." She tossed her head from side to side, as if dismissing her own idea. "In return, please accept this!" She brought herself closer to the swordsman and wrapped her arms firmly around his neck in a tight hug. With surprising speed, she quickly raised up onto the tip of her toes and awarded him with a simple peck on the cheek and stepped backwards in the same movement. Practically hopping backwards with renewed energy, the young mithra brought her right hand to her brow and flicked it in a quick saluting motion that would look more like a wave. "Until next time, mysterious kind hume..."

She took off running. Anywhere would have done. She just wanted to put as much distance between herself and the stranger and all the exciting new emotions that had confused her simple mind. It was only when she began to feel the draining effects of her injuries that she stopped and flung herself against the wall of a rocky ledge in exhuastion. However, despite the fact that her bandage was becoming increasingly inadequate, she ignored it for the moment. She had more important and pressing matters on her mind that were hidden right within her hands.

Rolling her head away from its resting spot she looked at the leather pouch she held in her hands. It was rather hard to be a money pouch, but it had been the only thing she had managed to slip off of him. Atleast with her hand so badly disabled. She unfolded it gently with the utmost care, and studied the contents. It looked mostly like useless junk with strange symbols scribbled all over it that strangley resembled her own written language. However, that meant absolutely nothing to her. She never really was one to care about things that didn't immediately affect her. What caught her interest were the printed pictures of the images, specifically the photos that captured the man himself. After flipping through all of them and throwing out the ones she thought were rubbish (mainly the cards with no pictures on them), she took the picture she found of him that she liked the best and placed it face up. Securing it in her shirt and close against her breasts, she hugged it tightly against her heart without really knowing the reason behind her silly actions.


End file.
